Open AccessE‐servant: an intelligent, programmable system to support and integrate assisted living technologies
Author(s) -
Picking Richard,
Grout Vic,
Casas Roberto,
Blasco Ruben
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
healthcare technology letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.45
H-Index - 19
ISSN - 2053-3713
DOI - 10.1049/htl.2014.0052
Subject(s) - computer science , task (project management) , event (particle physics) , human–computer interaction , assisted living , interface (matter) , telecare , telehealth , user interface , task management , graphical user interface , activities of daily living , health care , telemedicine , operating system , nursing , medicine , engineering , systems engineering , physics , bubble , quantum mechanics , maximum bubble pressure method , economics , economic growth , psychiatry
The ‘E‐servant’, a programmable system to control and manage assistive technologies, telehealth and telecare devices in a home environment is presented. The E‐servant is programmed using a simple graphical interface that allows the user to build a dialogue in the form of a production rule system, which is triggered by a patient‐ or technology‐initiated event. The patient interacts with the system through a personalised user interface to reach their goal of completing a task. These tasks, which the authors call ‘scenarios’, can be designed for users of different abilities (cognitive and/or physical). They can also be given priority levels, for example if a potential emergency situation arises in the patient's home, a scenario associated with the sensing of this event takes highest priority. The research presented in this Letter outlines the E‐servant, its programming tool and reports its evaluation in living laboratory settings. The results suggest that it can be used as a central management system for supporting an integrated support environment for facilitating healthcare and activities of daily living, especially for older patients.